joining me now, former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. for special affairs, stewart is a special assistant to the president and is currently president and ceo of the nonpartisan meridian international center in washington. welcome, stewart, thank you for being here on thanksgiving. >> good morning. >> you were also partly raised in the middle east. your father served in the foreign service. you've seen firsthand from a young age that cease-fires have a history of collapsing. do you feel this one is different? >> well, no, actually, they're very fragile in the middle east. these cycles can break down at any moment. but in this case, what you have is the emergence of a consensus that, you know, on the israeli side, the cost of a ground invasion was not something that they sought. and also, on the palestinian side, that, you know, israel has such a strong military superiority, that looking at a way to kind of get the talks restarted is really the outcome that people look for here. but in the middle east, the memories are long. of course, thi